Horror Aficionados discussion

Hi
Has anyone here read the Anno Dracula series?
What is this series about?
Are they worth reading?

Are all the books about a different character?

never heard of it

It's a series of books, but I don't know much about them. I don't know if they are worth reading or not.

I read the 3 in the series, loved them. It's about Victorian England, but Queen Victoria marries Dracula and becomes a vamp in his thrall. England turns mostly vamp- with some remaining "warm" folks. Someone starts murdering vamps and an investigator is charged to find the murderer. It seems strange at first that a "warm" investigator would care about murdered vamps, but as the story progresses to its conclusion, we find out what machinations are going on in the background. If you would enjoy a literate, well written alternate history of Victorian England peppered with vampires, and a touch of romance, you should try Anno Dracula.

And for your final question- characters from the first book do appear in later books, but not always as the main character. Two of the characters from Anno Dracula play major parts in Judgement of Tears, and they are my favorite characters in the series- really wonderful well drawn people/vamp.

That sounds great, I can't wait to read them. One of the books is about the red baron, but I don't much about him. Is the book Abraham Lincoln:Vampire hunter worth reading? I like the fact that a lot of potential blood, gore and hopefully funny situations with be in the books and similar books to it.

The second in Anno Dracula series is (partially) about the Red Baron, the German aviator who struck fear into the allied air force. Of course in this book he wasn't entirely human.

I haven't read the Lincoln book- too many other books have claimed my attention.

It's a good 'alternate history' type series where a lot of historical figures are vampires. He also brings in a lot of literary figures as well, e.g, in the third book Judgement of Tears(aka Dracula Cha Cha Cha) James Bond is one of the characters, but is named something else to avoid copywright infringing. There is a fourth book that has been long in gestation, titled 'Johnny Alucard'.

For a similarly premised book, check out The Empire of Fear.

I've read Anno, and I own the second and third books, but haven't read them yet.

In my opinion, half the fun of AD was recognizing the characters and seeing how many of them you can identify. I thought I had 'seen' them all, but in the afterword where Kim Newman sort of lists them out, I realized I hadn't recognized a LOT of them. Mr. Newman is amazing in regards to his knowledge of horror-both literature and film.

I have Anno Dracula but haven't read it yet. I didn't realize it was a series.

I read the Lincoln book and really enjoyed it. I liked the story and the history put into the book.

Are there any other series of books/stand alone books that are similar to Anno Dracula?

I don't know about similar, but good series:

The Nymphos of Rocky Flats

Blood Engines

Alright thank you.

I have the first and second Anno books on the shelf. I started the first and couldn't get my head around what was going on. It seemed to me there was a steam punk element. Surprise steam punk is never a good thing.

I plan on picking it up again with a different mindset and see if I can get into it. Just wasn't the thing I needed at the time.

Hmmm, I don't remember a steampunk aspect to the story. (Which could just be me and my poor memory.)

I greatly enjoyed the alternate history that was created-combining both real characters from history and fictional characters from literature.

I like steam punk, so I've been looking at it. But it seems denser than I like to read normally. And alternate history tends to be as dry as reading a history book. I like history. History can be interesting. But reading a text book isn't.

I might try it anyway.

Charlene wrote: "Hmmm, I don't remember a steampunk aspect to the story. (Which could just be me and my poor memory.)

I greatly enjoyed the alternate history that was created-combining both real characters from hi..."

It looks like 72 readers tagged Anno as "steam punk".

Oh, I don't think it was dry at all. I thought it was a lot of fun. I think the Queen of England was living with a vampire (possibly Dracul himself?) at the beginning of the book. What's not to like about that? LOL

Plus, again, it's fun trying to spot all the fictional characters that are in the story.

Charlene wrote: "Hmmm, I don't remember a steampunk aspect to the story. (Which could just be me and my poor memory.)

I greatly enjoyed the alternate history that was created-combining both real characters from hi..."

***
Charlene, this is one of the books I plan to borrow from a digital library (one of these days). They also have the 2nd book in this series.

I have the second and third but haven't been able to work them into my reading schedule yet.

Knowing your tastes David, I do think you would like it. It has some action going on, a really cool protagonist and the whole alt. history thing. :)

Great series! Loved the alternative history setup and the "pastiche" of literature and cinema characters there. In "The Bloody Red Baron" you can find Nick Knight from The Forever Knight tv series and in Dracula Cha Cha Cha there are James Bond, Gomez and Morticia Addams and much more. The vamp Genevieve reminds the one with the same name created by Newman years ago when he was writing Warhammer Novels with the pseudonym Jack YeovilJack YeovilThe Vampire GenevieveCan't wait for "Johnny Alucard" :)

I like the alternative history, possible steam punk involved in the story as well. This sounds like it will be fun to read. I'm waiting for my copy of The Hounds of The Baskervilles to arrive in the post.

Interested in doing a buddy read? Maybe later this month? Or next?

I mean for the Dracula book. :)

Might motivate me to read something longer than 10 pages. I'm in!

I would be interested to see what you both think of it. Also, I'm interested in how many of the fictional characters you can spot. :)

I don't have a copy of these books.

If you enjoy Anno Dracula, another good book is .

More adventure/thriller than horror, featuring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

I love Sir Arthur Conan Doyle! He was friends with Harry Houdini.

ANNO DRACULA is simply one of the most enjoyable historical novels ever, moreso if you know vampire lore. So good!

Ah, yeah, I have it but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I heard it was the best Dracula novel since, well, Dracula.

Ken wrote: "Might motivate me to read something longer than 10 pages. I'm in!"

Ken, did you ever finish it?